South Dakota, 2019

Hail in South Dakota, May 31, 2019

May 31, 2019 · NWS FSD · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A cold front pushing southward on the evening of May 31 spurred a few thunderstorms with the diurnal heating ahead of the boundary producing up to 1000-1500 J/kg MLCAPE. The environment featured meager (<20 knots) deep-layer shear and an inverted-V profile.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

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  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS FSD wrote it up.

A cold front pushing southward on the evening of May 31 spurred a few thunderstorms with the diurnal heating ahead of the boundary producing up to 1000-1500 J/kg MLCAPE. The environment featured meager (<20 knots) deep-layer shear and an inverted-V profile. As a result, short-lived updrafts produced some sub-severe wind and hail.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Sioux Falls, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 31, 5:18 PM CST, 29 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 31, 5:18 PM CST, 29 minutes before
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Hazardous weather outlook, May 31, 2:39 PM CST, 3 hours 8 minutes before
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In the hours before

Local storm report, May 31, 5:31 PM CST, 16 minutes before
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The radar

The Sioux Falls radar (KFSD), 64 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:44 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Union

When
May 31, 5:47 PM CST to 5:48 PM CST
Where
Union County, 1.01 mi E of Alcester
Measured
0.88 in hail
Reported by
Public
Coordinates
43.020, -96.630

What these are

Hail
Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in South Dakota in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyWarnings in South Dakota, May 2019

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 831445.